EVENT: BLOGGING MARATHON #89 – WEEK 3 DAY 2 THEME: CONDIMENTS ON THE SIDE Whenever I’m going to visit my kids, or for that matter any of my family members, I tend to carry food stuff for them. Be it cookies, cakes, pickles, snacks, nuts, condiments, tea or coffee…the list is endless. When my relatives come down to Mombasa, they bring lots of food stuff for me. I use to think that its only Indians who travel to any corner of the world with half their suitcase full of food stuff. Its only when bags open at the airports you realize that everyone, literally everyone travels with food stuff for their friends and families. OK, I rest my case, the younger lot, though they will…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: BREAD BAKERS THEME: NATURALLY COLORFUL BREADS When Mireille who blogs at Schizo Chef suggested the above theme, I couldn’t see beyond beetroot. I wanted to bake a bread with beetroot puree. However, that didn’t happen as twice during my trip to the market I forgot to buy beetroots. Staying in Mombasa has its few perks amongst the many disadvantages, one of them being that vegetable and fruit sellers come to my doorstep. Two wonderful ladies who balance heavy plastic basins filled with vegetables and fruits on their heads, have a medium size basin full, tucked in between the arm and chest and a full kikapu (baskets made from dried palm leaves) carried in their other hand come practically everyday. They both sell seasonal fruits…
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Continue ReadingSun, Sand and Sea For the past couple of days I’ve been spending some relaxing and fun time with my family at Watamu. Watamu is a small coastal town just outside Malindi. We’re here to celebrate my aunt’s(foi, bua) 90th birthday which is today. Yes, you read right, 90th. I decided to treat all my 3 aunts to a foot and arm massage at the spa run by Medina Palms. As I was filling in the form of questionnaires for her, when I came to the part of if she’s taking any medication, she says very sadly ‘ yes, the doctor has prescribed Vitamins and Iron pills. Write that down”. So I go but that’s good for health and they only ask if you’ve…
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Continue ReadingHealthy Greens “I believe that the only true religion consists of having a good heart”. By Dalai Lama A friend sent me this on WhatsApp and it got me thinking. All religions basically want you to be good, forgiving, compassionate, loving, humble. If one follows some of this principals then that equates to a good heart. However, in reality we all are human beings and falter somewhere or the other. We all want to be the best or good. Achieving this goodness is difficult. It does not come to you automatically. One has to really work hard at it, be mindful and practice being good. Yes, practice. Practice not to do harmful things. Practice not to say hurtful words. Practice not to get angry. Practice…
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Continue ReadingCute bread rolls Theme: Surfing Through The Caribbeans BM #81- Day 2 Today we are visiting Guyana. Its a sovereign state on the northern mainland of South America. Before you think I’ve got my facts wrong about the Caribbeans, Guyana though not an island in the Caribbean, it is a part of the Caribbean region mainly because of its strong cultural, historical and political ties with the Anglo Caribbean countries and the Caribbean community. The official language is English and the other widely spoken language is Creole. A state with a diverse population consisting of people from Africa, Europe, China and India along with the indigenous people. Colonised by the Dutch and English, people were brought to Guyana to work on the plantations and rice…
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Continue ReadingMEGA BLOGGING MARATHON -SEPT 2017 #80TH BLOGGING MARATHON THEME: PROTEIN RICH DISHES DAY:23 It is believed that there is no super food in the Indian cuisine like sattu. What is sattu? Sattu is simply flour made from roasted chickpeas (brown ones) or chana as we know it. Its different from besan atta. Besan atta is made from raw chana dal whereas sattu is made from roasted ones. When protein powders were not available or made, olden time wrestlers, soldiers and body builders would have a glass of sattu mixed in water. Sattu is very rich in protein, calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium and a good source of carbohydrates too. Sattu drink is famous during the hot summer days as it not only refreshes the body…
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Continue ReadingMEGA BLOGGING MARATHON -SEPT 2017 #80TH BLOGGING MARATHON THEME: PROTEIN RICH DISHES/LENTILS DAY:17 If you browse through the internet, you will be inundated with recipes with cauliflower as the main ingredient especially if one is trying to follow a vegan or paleo diet. Cauliflower rice, cauliflower pizza base, cauliflower tortillas etc etc etc. Besides cauliflower rice, I’ve yet to try my hands on the other recipes. As a kid I didn’t like cauliflower too much. I think I hated it as the overcooked version smelt awful. I don’t like to overcook it for sabjis, curries or for any dish where I’m using cauliflower. Even when I prepare soup,I just cook it enough so it remains a bit crunchy. Did you know that…
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Continue ReadingMEGA BLOGGING MARATHON -SEPT 2017 #80TH BLOGGING MARATHON THEME: PROTEIN RICH DISHES DAY:12 Kenyans get affected by the elections whenever they come by every 5 years… more precisely in the past decade or so. People now have a voice and make their opinions known to the public. Kenya went through its elections in Aug and the ruling party Jubilee won. The opposition took the matter to the Supreme Court and it ruled in their favor and so re – election of the President will take place again on Oct 17th (a case of rigging votes). While I praise the judiciary system for being fair and just, I’m more concerned about how the economy comes to a sluggish pace during the election year. During this morning’s…
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Continue ReadingMEGA BLOGGING MARATHON -SEPT 2017 #80TH BLOGGING MARATHON THEME: PROTEIN RICH DISHES DAY: 1 I’m taking part in the MEGA Blogging marathon for the first time. It’s proving to be quite a challenge getting 26 protein rich recipes together especially when I’m a vegetarian/eggetarian. However, its through this challenge that I’ve learnt, there are so many sources of protein that lacto ovo vegetarians can include in their diets. My dad was visiting us in Montreal in Aug. He loves all his fried snacks and enjoys them for his brunch. Now all those who live in small apartments in the western world know that deep frying can be a bother especially when you don’t have multiple windows or doors to open up as in India or…
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Continue ReadingIt’s different For the month of July, The Shhh Cooking Secretly group decided on #Chutneys as the theme. The chutneys I’ve seen so far by the participants are so varied. But then why not as many regions of India have their own chutneys to boast about. We make them from herbs, dals, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, basically anything. I remember my grandmother would not allow us to throw away the peel of cucumber. She would instruct me how to make that into a chutney. Back then we didn’t have any fancy electrical gadgets. She would make me pound the cucumber peels, coriander, ginger and chilli using a mortar and pestle. And a delicious chutney would be ready in no time to dip our bhajias into…
